Popular Vancouver Ticketing Company Bets on Riskier New Scheme

Vancouver, British Columbia-based Picatic is a Web service that manages event ticketing. Although the company had been profitable, last year founder Jayesh Parmar, concerned that the firm was too similar to other offerings, proposed the risky concept of allowing customers to decide how much to pay for tickets. The risk appears to have paid off, with 68 percent of users paying up in the retooled service's beta phase. "Our mandate is, if you lose money on our event, don't worry about us. Pay us next time,” Parmar says. Picatic's pay-what-you-want model presents event organizers with a slider that lets them select what percentage commission of their sales they would like to give back to the company. "It can be zero, it can be market value, it can be above market value,” Parmar says. He believes venues and organizers are seeking something simpler, and less burdensome, than the contracts they typically enter into with ticketing firms, which frequently include convenience fees and service charges. Parmar is betting that Picatic's payment model cannot be beaten by larger ticketing outfits. "Every event that's on our platform, we have skin in the game," he says.